Right now for the Tampa Bay area, the spike in COVID-19 cases this summer is much higher than last summer's. In June, it finally happened for Phil Compton of Seminole Heights, who just got COVID for the first time. “Five weeks ago today I had a big day out,” he says. “I had three situations where I could have caught COVID, [including] a three-hour long meeting with 40 people inside, no mask.” Only in the last week or so has his life returned to normal; he's one of hundreds of thousands of Floridians who've contracted COVID during this summer surge with very contagious variants, known as “FLiRT” variants because of the letters corresponding with amino acids that mark the variations. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/covid19-cases-tampa-bay-summer-2024/67-c13e65b8-cdc4-40a1-b800-16310f681f5f